Italy Facts.

Bel Paese or beautiful country is the perfect description for a place known to have a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Italy. Tourists who love the beauty of high art and monuments from the very famous artists are seen in one place. The very famous great cities of art are Rome, Venice and Florence, where tourists can experience the beauty of the magnificent works of artists. Aside from excellent in art, Italy is also famous for their outdoor beauties like the coasts, alpine lakes and mountains for tourist who wants to enjoy the beautiful sceneries. With a blend of natural beauty and talented people inhabiting this country, Italy is worth your visit.

ITALY – IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING FACTS

Italy is easy to recognize on any world map, as the country is shaped like a high-heeled boot. It looks like the boot is kicking a ball, which is the island of Sicily.

In the North, the mountain range of the Alps separates Italy from the other European countries France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Italian’s dessert Tiramisù literally means “pick-me-up” (metaphorically, “make me happy”), due to two of its ingredients such as coffee and cocoa.

Many of the world’s most famous artists were Italian, with such names as Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Bernini, Titian and Raphael, among many others.

The Italians invented the viol, violin, cello and piano, and were the greatest representative of Baroque music

The mechanical clock, the barometer, the thermometer, optical glasses and the telephone are all Italian inventions.

Rome’s Cinecittà is the largest filmmaking facility in Europe. It served as the filming location to classic Hollywood movies like Ben-Hur (1959), Cleopatra (1963), many of Federico Fellini’ films, and more recently the film Gangs of New York and the HBO/BBC series Rome.

Europe’s only three active volcanoes, the Etna, the Stromboli and the Vesuvius, are all in the South of Italy. Mount Etna also happens to be the world’s most active volcano. It has been in quasi uninterrupted eruption for the past 3,500 years, and spewing lava on a daily basis since 1999

The city of Syracuse in Sicily was once the largest Ancient Greek city in the world. As the most powerful city in Sicily, the tyrants of Syracuse ruled the island and the surrounding Mediterranean.

St Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the largest Christian edifice in the world. Its construction took 120 years (1506-1626).

Tintoretto’s Paradise in the Doge’s Palace in Venice is the largest painting ever done on canvas. It measures 22.6 by 9.1 metres (74 ft by 30 ft).

Each Italian consumes in average 25kg of pasta each year. However, pasta consumption is considerably higher in the centre and south of the country than in the north, where risotto and polenta are more common.

ITALY – COOL, FUNNY AND FUN FACTS

Love cats and don’t kill them or else you’ll be in jail. The Romans love cats so much that they are considered a bio-cultural asset of the city. A new law condemns any person killing a cat to a 10,000 euro fine, and up to 3 years in jail.

Many of the world’s most prestigious sports cars are Italian, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Bugatti or De Tomaso.

Italy is the fifth most visited country in the world, welcoming some 46 million foreign visitors annually.

Dinner is past 8pm, not at 5pm. If you’re hungry at 5pm, go to a pasticceria and get a hot chocolate and some pastries. If you’re hungry at 7pm go to a bar and order an aperitivo. Don’t show up for dinner before 8pm (and that’s still kind of early!)

You push to enter a place, and pull to get out. It is the exactly the opposite as in America.

You have to wear plastic gloves to pick up food in the produce section of the grocery store or old ladies will yell at you.

In Italy, old people “adopt” students, who can’t afford rent, to their homes in exchange for company and a little help around the house.

In Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year’s Day as a symbol of good luck for the upcoming year.

An Italian town has banned pet owners from keeping goldfish in bowls, due to a distorted view of reality.

ITALY – HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL FACTS

Founded in 1088, the oldest European university in continuous operation is the University of Bologna. 13 other Italian universities are over 500 years old.

In 1797, The Republic of Venice was founded in 697 and was dissolved by Napoleon. This makes it the longest lasting republic in human history as well as the longest lasting uninterrupted form of government that ever existed. In comparison the Roman Republic lasted just under 500 years.

The world’s oldest bank still in business is the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, operating since 1472. In the 12th century, Europe’s first modern banks appeared in Genoa. The first recorded public bond (1150) and the earliest known foreign exchange contract (1156) are both from Genoa.

St Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the largest Christian edifice in the world. Its construction took 120 years (1506-1626).

In 1420’s, Florence Cathedral has the largest brick dome ever constructed and It was engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.

In 1830, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba which is the world’s first true pizzeria was opened in Naples. There is evidence that some sort of pasta and pizza were already eaten in Ancient Rome.

There are thousands of traditional and regional Italian desserts. However, the most famous one abroad, the tiramisù, was only invented in the 1970’s. The name literally means “pick-me-up” (metaphorically, “make me happy”), due to two of its ingredients such as coffee and cocoa.

In May 2006, Italian gynecologist and embryologist Severino Antinori assisted the oldest women in history (62 or 63 years old) to give birth. It was announced that 62 or 63 years oldEast Sussex child psychiatrist, Patricia Rashbrook, was seven months pregnant after being treated by Antinori, who said that 62 or 63 was the upper limit for IVF in healthy women.

In 1932, the oldest film festival in the world is the Venice Film Festival.

In 1779, First battery was invented by Alessandro Volta where the Electricity measurement term “Volt” was derived.